Before leading Dartmouth College, Kim was a founding member of Partners in Health, a global health organization.

The newswire called it a "surprise pick," and the President was reportedly "drawn to Kim’s innovative work fighting the spread of AIDS and tuberculosis." Hillary Clinton nominated him for the position.

"Officials believe his experience will help counter criticism from developing countries that have grown weary of the US stranglehold on the World Bank presidency," the AP wrote. The International Monetary Fund is traditionally headed by a European. The current IMF director is Christine Lagarde, former French finance minister.

The Washington Post reported that Partners in Health, headed by Paul Farmer and Jim Yong Kim, "proved, in the face of many doubters and over the course of many years of hard work, that first-class health care can be delivered, respectfully, in the poorest precincts of the poorest countries."

Kim also won a "genius" grant from the MacArthur Foundation in 2003 and helped the World Health Organization increase the number of people in Africa receiving AIDS treatment.